It’s starting to sound like the MPAA may really have it in for director Kevin Smith. I guess we should have seen it coming, after all his next movie does have the word “porno” in the title and his last one had a guy screwing a donkey. Personally I love both porno and donkeys (but only in a platonic sense) and while that may all be a part of why we like him, it’s not so much for the uptight folks at the MPAA.
Earlier this month the MPAA jumped on Kevin’s case over the teaser trailer he released online for Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The trailer contained no actual footage from the movie, but Smith neglected to let the MPAA rate the trailer before posting it, and so they made him yank it down. Now they’re giving him trouble over the rating of his movie as a whole, at least if Zack and Miri star Seth Rogen is on the up and up.
Speaking to MTV yesterday, Rogen had this to say: “The MPAA is gunning for us, I think.” Sounds ominous Seth. What’s the problem? He continues, “It's a really filthy movie. I hear they are having some problems getting an R rating from an NC-17 rating, which is never good.” That’s not good. If true, it probably means they’ll have to alter their cut to get the MPAA’s approval, and that means the cut we see in theaters won’t be the one Smith intended. On the other hand, while it may not be particularly good news for theatrical releasing, it’s awesome news if you care about the sales of the DVD, since the Unrated version of Zack and Miri which will be inevitably released, will probably be the one we all want to see. Someone explain to me again why we’re all ok with unrated DVDs, but we aren’t ok with unrated things in theaters? That’s never made much sense.
DVD sales aside, if you’re like me and you have a thing for watching movies in theaters the way they’re meant to be seen, this is not a good thing. The MPAA’s wacky ratings system has never been very logical, and it sounds like Rogen at least, is a little pissed. He says, “They [fight against] sex stuff. Isn't that weird? It's really crazy to me that 'Hostel' is fine, with people gouging their eyes out and sh-- like that," Rogen shrugged. "But you can't show two people having sex — that's too much.” We’re pissed with you bud, though maybe it’s not all bad. Perhaps the MPAA’s puritanical jiggering with Smith’s content will save us from seeing more of your naked ass? Not that you aren’t a beautiful man Seth. You’re just not my kind of man… assuming I have a kind of man… and if I do I haven’t found him yet. I’ll keep looking for that and you guys keep up the good fight against the censoring bastards at the MPAA.
